He's an Army veteran who also worked as a police officer in Copperas Cove.

Commissioners deferred action on a proposal to cremate rather than bury the bodies of destitute residents whose funerals the county must pay for under state law.

Commissioner Joe Mashek says the county should cremate paupers to save money, but Commissioner Lester Gibson countered that the decision should rest with the families of the dead.

The county currently offers a choice, but is considering the change to save both money and space in Restland Cemetery, which the county has operated for more than two decades.

Commissioners voted to defer action until next week in order to give the funeral home with which the county contracts to come back with an estimate of what it would cost to bury ashes in a communal site.